The Adventures of Bill the Pony
by TheForgottenCharacters
Summary: Because no one actually cares what happened to the hobbits...


The Forgotten Pony

…_But at that moment several things happened. Frodo felt something seize him by the ankle, and he fell with a cry. Bill the pony gave a wild neigh of fear, and turned tail and dashed away along the lakeside into the darkness. Sam leaped after him, and then hearing Frodo's cry he ran back again, weeping and cursing. – The Fellowship of the Ring_

At this point, dear friends, let us deviate from the trials of the Company and follow its one lonely member left behind.

While Sam turned back to help his master, poor Bill the pony kept on racing along the shore. Storming across the shallow creek in his fright there was no tie of friendship or loyalty that could persuade him to slow his canter, so great the feeling of dread that had over taken him. Indeed this act is what probably saved his life. If Bill had been just a little bit slower on the uptake or not have run as fast the many tentacles besieging the Company might well have turned to pull Him into the dark pool. Instead angry at losing any hope of a meal they set on the unfortunate holly trees uprooting them to demolish the door it's pray had disappeared into.

At this point fortunate Bill had reached the winding road down, and checked in his mad dash by the slope, he slowed to a walk down the path which allowed him to catch his breath and gain his bearings once again. By the bottom of the slope he looked around left and right there was no human in sight and he shook his coat which no longer bore the packs and bags he was accustomed too. This emptiness and void of work and orders was puzzlement to the pony, He tilted his head left and right and looked all around but could not understand it. All his life Bill had been surrounded by humans, carrying for them pulling logs and slays or trotting along with a master or mistress on his back. His halter still he had, as he had pulled free and run off with it in the confusion, but all Bill knew of it was a slight weight and itchiness along his face and ears and it gave no comfort to him without a master to pull on it and lead him where to go.

As Bill contemplated this he continued walking back down the road, until, something he did understand took place. Wolf howls broke out not too far away. Caulking an ear towards the sound, Bill once more broke into trot. While the calls were not near enough to cause him danger they were still too close for comfort and so he moved off away from them and the predators they came from. These wolves, if that is what they be, sounded from the north - back in the direction where the Company first encountered them. Therefore Bill naturally took the route south and east away from them, though this only put him farther and farther from his dear master Sam. Fortunately for Bill, the Elven-way to Hollin lead in this direction and, as any sensible pony would, he followed it as he wound his way away from the dark cliffs of Moria into a land unknown.

As the silver moon rode higher and higher clouds began to gather, obscuring its face and casting the still world into a deeper darkness. Bill's now slowed hoof beats began to falter as his drooping head swiveled left and right looking for some soft gully or clearing to spend the remainder of the night. The Ancient road sill followed the now dry river Sirannonan and it presently passed into an area of bluffs where the ups and downs of the lands scape hide the passage of the road tucked away in the river's gully. A few more yards on and the rough channel began to widen, its sloping sides gradually dwindle in height, though strange rocks and pillars began appearing at intervals on either side of route. Several more turnings in the road passed and then a narrow cutting appeared in the north bank of the track. This lay across from what once must have been a wide pool in the now silent river; the empty stream bed tripled in width here and cut deeper down into the gray earth. It is into this cutting Bill the pony turned and to his appreciation he found a small opening within, surrounded by broken rocks and pillars on all sides. The wind was quitter here and it seemed quite out of the way enough to make a good enough shelter for poor Bill. The tired pony huddled off to one sheltered side to rest after the frightening day that was now past.

To be continued…


End file.
